I am Officially an Uncle

On December 4 of 2009, my older sister gave birth to a baby girl. It was sooner than expected, as she was projected to have the baby around December 13. The baby's name is Barbara May Leyba. A couple of days before, my sister went to the hospital to get a check up on the pregnancy to see if everything was fine. The doctors recommended for her to stay there because she had high blood pressure and they wanted to monitor her health status. Soon thereafter, my mother and other sister also went to the hospital to give her company and support. She would end up being there until she gave birth. This was a better option than being rushed to the hospital at an unexpected time and with no one to help you. Her husband works in San Francisco and commutes by using BART.

On Friday afternoon, I got a call from my mom telling me to go to the hospital as the time was near for my sister to give birth. So I told my dad, got ready, and we were on our way to Kaiser. We arrived around 6:00pm and met my other sister at the waiting room. Not too long after, my mom returned to the waiting room with tears in her eyes. Obviously she was worried about the pregnancy and my sister's high blood pressure affecting the baby. I had the opportunity to go to the patient room where my sister was being treated. I told her that everything was going to be fine and that I would pray for her.

Apparently, the procedure was being delayed because the operation rooms were still full due to other emergencies. In addition, the medication to reduce pain was not helping my sister at all. The doctors concluded that she could not have a normal birth and had to have a C-section. As much as my sister did not want to do that, it was her only choice. After four hours of patiently waiting, the good news came that the procedure was complete and the baby was born. The newborn was beautiful in so many ways and I could not stop smiling as I was happy for my sister.

Vocabulary Words
Lief (adv.) - soon, gladly

Nimrod (n.) - idiot, jerk

Thanksgiving Weekend

I have to say that I enjoyed this year's Thanksgiving holiday. On Thursday, I spent most of the day playing Halo 3 on Xbox Live. I seldom have time to play video games during the school semesters, so I really took advantage of every minute that I had. Later on in the day, I helped my parents set up the tables and clean the house. My family hosted the Thanksgiving dinner, as two families from my mom's side joined us. Before we ate, we all had to share with the group what we were thankful for this year. The dinner was absolutely delicious; I won't go into specifics because I will get hungry.

On Friday, we met again at our house to eat what was left over from the day before. We had so much food that we had enough for everyone to eat. To keep my younger cousins busy, I played Super Smash Brothers Brawl on the Wii system. That game never get old and I can play it for hours. I was easy on my cousins and gave them chances to win; I didn't want to be the only one winning.

On Saturday, my sister was going to have her baby shower at my house. She will be due sometime around December 13 and will be having a girl. She decided to name her Barbara, after her husband's mother, who passed away last year. By 2:00pm I had to leave the house, so I decided to play football with some friends. We played at Hillview Park, which is just across the street from my house.

Finally, on Sunday I slept in for most of the morning. Later on, I started getting ready to go to church. Overall, I had a great time at church. The pastor gave a sermon on the theme of thanksgiving.

Vocabulary Words
Disputatious (adj.) - inclined to dispute

Mollycoddle (v.) - to treat with an excessive or absurd degree of indulgence or attention